Snapshots
by Ace of Fours
Summary: Short drabbles from my tumblr, mostly Chelley. Enjoy!
1. Dance

"It'll be good for us, Wheatley."

Chell's voice is quiet but firm as he stares thoughtfully down at the flier in his hand. She'd handed it to him the moment she walked through the door of their tiny little house. Wheatley adjusts his glasses and squints, holding the fluorescent green paper up to his nose and reading the small print again.

"Fifth Annual Solstice Ball," he reads aloud, a frown tugging the corner of his lips. "A ball. Like, dancing and music and crowds and such?" he glances up and arches an eyebrow at her. "Me. Dancing. Around a whole mess of other people?" Wheatley clarifies. Chell nods.

It seems like a really, _really _bad idea to him. He can barely keep track of his feet when he's walking, and something as intricate as dancing…how is he ever supposed to manage that? Plus, friendly as he is, he's still fairly unused to large groups of people. Isolation in an underground facility makes for a bit of a deficit in social skills, it turns out.

He starts to shake his head. However, one look at the very small, encouraging smile on Chell's face makes him rethink this decision. He _does_ trust her, with his life, without a question, she'd surely never suggest something to him that she thinks he can't handle. And she is right, it would probably be good for the both of them to get out there and be around other people. They're both very much homebodies, because they've really had enough adventure at this point to last both their lifetimes. But…really, just sitting at home together (enjoyable as that may be) can't be that great for them.

So after a brief consideration, Wheatley nods. "All right, luv. Let's do it," he agrees, and she grins, wrapping her arms around him and giving him a tight hug. "You're going to have to teach me how to dance, you know. When is it?" he asks, having only skimmed the piece of paper still in his hand.

"Tomorrow night."

Wheatley stiffens. That's not much time at all. He puffs out a heavy breath and kisses the top of Chell's head, an easy feat for someone his height.

"Well, we'd better get started, then."


	2. Ostrich

How Aperture Science Innovators came to be in possession of an underground petting zoo was beyond Wheatley's knowledge. All he knew was that the employees, and their children, certainly seemed to enjoy it. So one day he decided, hey, why not take a look-see at what the humans were on about?

Sneaking away from his 'handlers' had been easy enough. They really didn't care much about what he got into, as long as he kept out of their business and didn't break anything. In fact it wasn't unusual for them to let him wander off and deal with the consequences himself. Wheatley didn't mind, for all the times he had been caught and scolded.

Plus, this would be worth it. He'd never seen any animals up close, only in pictures and movies, and he was greatly looking forward to it. Though he really had no idea what animals in particular there would be down there. Personally, he was hoping for a lemur or maybe a black panther. Either one would be absoultely fantastic.

When Wheatley arrived at the correct floor, he poked his head tentatively out of the elevator. It was late, around two in the morning if the old clock in the elevator was to be believed, and no one was in sight. The lanky android grinned conspiratorially and crept out of the elevator, glad that he didn't have to adhere to a sleep cycle.

It was a simple matter of pressing his palm against the console of the locked gate to get inside. If Wheatley had been aware of what a heist movie was, he would have felt as if he were in one at that moment. The gate clicked open and with a snicker slipped inside, shutting it behind him.

Most of the animals were asleep, so Wheatley was sure to be quiet. If they were_anything _like humans, they wouldn't enjoy being woken up. So for a while he just stood and grinned, cataloging in his mind the different species he saw there.

_Goat. Chicken. Pony, _he listed, somehow managing to keep himself quiet. That was when he heard _it._ Some strange sort of sound behind him. A sort of squawk. Wheatley froze with fear, before slowly, _painfully _slowly, twisting his neck around to glance over his shoulder.

"Gah!" he yelped, jumping at the sight of the massive bird behind him, staring right into his eyes. His hands flew to his mouth and he looked around quickly to see if the other animals had woken up at the noise. Thankfully, they hadn't. Wheatley let his hands slide down and anxiously watched the bird.

It's head bobbed from side to side as it regarded the android, and Wheatley couldn't help but sway to follow it's movements, like a cobra being led by a snake charmer. When he was certain it wasn't going to attack, he lifted a hand in greeting. "Hello." he said quietly, uncertainly. It flapped it's wings at him and he wondered if it was trying to wave back. Wheatley laughed slightly at the thought.

The strangest thing about it was that he had to look _up_ to meet it's eye. Wheatley was no diminutive man—er, android, rather. He was a good six and a half feet tall, but the bird was somehow taller. At least, it _was_, until it ducked it's long neck down, placed it's beak directly in Wheatley's face and gave a squawk.

"Er, wow, you're very…friendly," he murmured with an amused smirk. He probably should have been afraid of it. Hell, any other animal getting so bold with him probably would have scared him half to death. But this one…he felt an odd kinship with. Perhaps it was the fact that it was just as awkward, lanky and tall as he was. Slowly he reached out and patted the creature on top of the head. It was surprisingly soft. "Aw, you're not so bad, are you?" he said quietly, rubbing it's head slightly. It seemed pretty pleased with this.

"I wonder if you like being kept in here," Wheatley thought aloud. "It looks like they feed you, keep you happy…but would you rather be outside? Doing what you please?" he said, tilting his head to the side. His eyes softened a bit. "Hm. You're a lot like me, huh? You're content where you are but—" he gasped and jumped a bit at the sound of the elevator arriving behind him. Someone was down here? At this hour? Must have been the maintenance man. Wheatley gave the confused animal a last pat before creeping out of the pens.

Naturally, the clumsy android was caught, and, subsequently, restricted from access to good deal of the facility. Strangely enough, though, not the petting zoo. So, whenever he could manage, he would sneak down to the pens and visit his animal friend.

His _only_ friend.

At least, for a while.


End file.
